Cessna Citation X

The Citation X is Cessna's largest, fastest and longest range aircraft yet, and Cessna claims it to be the fastest civil transport in service other than the supersonic Concorde. The Citation X (as in the Roman numeral, not the letter, and Cessna's Model 750) is also the largest member of business aviation's biggest corporate jet family, the Citation series. The design objectives behind the Citation X included transcontinental USA and trans Atlantic range in a mid size package that cruises faster than any other business jet available. This high speed cruise capability, which Cessna says is 105 to 210km/h (55 to 113kt) faster than other mid size corporate jet, means the X can save up to one hour's flight time on transcontinental US flights, flying from Los Angeles to New York with normal wind conditions in 4 hours 10 minutes. Because of its ability to cruise at high speed at high altitudes, Cessna also says the Citation X will consume less fuel than current jets on such a transcontinental flight. The X's FADEC equipped Allison AE 3007A turbofans are very powerful for an aircraft of the X's size, while the highly swept (37°) wings are also long in span. Other design features of the Citation X include the fuselage cross section of the Citation III, VI and VII but with more efficient use of internal space that allows greater head and shoulder room, an area ruled, waisted rear fuselage, trailing link main undercarriage units and a modern Honeywell Primus 2000 EFIS avionics suite with five colour CRT displays. Cessna announced that it was developing the Citation X in October 1990 at that year's NBAA conference. The prototype was publicly rolled out in September 1993 and flew for the first time on December 21 that year. Certification was granted on June 3 1996, with the first customer delivery (to golfer Arnold Palmer) that month. A Citation X was the 2500th Citation to be delivered, handed over on September 10 1997. The USA's National Aeronautics Association awarded its prestigious Collier Trophy to the Citation X design team in February 1997.

The backbone of this section is from the The International Directory of Civil Aircraft by Gerard Frawley and used with permission. To get your own copy of the book click here.